Community Tasting Notes 12

• jhbrower1 Likes this wine: 94 points

  June 26, 2023 - Still showing incredibly well (cork in remarkably good condition!). Fairly delicate & pretty with restrained alcohol and an expressive nose that was classic Left Bank. With this much age, soft and pretty on the palate and amazingly easy to drink. A great reminder of what Bordeaux can (could?) be for someone who doesn't naturally gravitate toward it.

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• Cpu249 wrote: 92 points

  March 6, 2023 - Huge Tobacco aroma, some leather! Still drinkable and worth every penny. Best after 45 min...

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• Paul S wrote: 94 points

  February 20, 2021 - Dinner at Bar-a-Thym (Bar-a-Thym): Maybe edging just past its peak, but this was still a tremendously enjoyable wine - one of the best few bottles on the night actually. The nose was delightful and very Haut Brion, with lovely drifts of tobacco spice swirling around a core of plums and cassis, loamy earth and fragrant herb. Very pretty. The palate was perfectly soft and silky, with the tannins completely resolved, and gentle acidity just tracing its way through lovely notes of cassis and plums laced with loamy notes forest floor and lovely blush of cigarette and tobacco spice - all trailing away into an oh-so elegant finish. Absolutely delightful. Not a wine of strength and weight, and perhaps lacking some of the voluptuousness of a great Haut-Brion, but this was such an elegant charmer.

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• Cailles wrote: 95 points

  October 12, 2020 - 13x 1980 Birthday Bash: What to expect from a mediocre 1980 vintage in Bordeaux? We tasted Mouton, Lafite, Haut Brion and Pichon Lalande all blind side by side. The Mouton (92 points) and especially the Lafite (89) display some nice tertiary aromatics but are lacking substance, precision and balance (especially on the palate). Haut Brion (95) and Pichon Lalande (94) are beautifully mature with lots of tertiary flavors and surprisingly still plenty of fruit. Both are quite clean, focused and harmonious. Of course the complexity and finesse are not on par with great vintages but still these were quite enjoyable.
  
  TN: Lots of barnyard, earth and tobacco as well as some dark and red berries on the nose. Quite inviting, medium intense and with good precision. The highlight here comes with the palate which shows a) layered, b) precise, c) harmonious and d) sexy. A potpourri of sweet berries, a layer of fresh blueberries, burnt sugar, herbs, minerality all embedded in a relatively fine structural frame with fairly round but still noticeable tannins and a well-integrated acidity. Harmonious and with a nice, layered finish. At first I scored this beauty in the 96-97 point range. As I went back during the evening it showed less impressive with the last glasses rather on a 93/94 point level.
  
  Decanting: Double decanted 2+ hours before service. Which seemed good for this bottle.

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• sirpat00 Likes this wine: 96 points

  September 19, 2020 - "You only turn 40 once tasting" (At home): Double-decanted. The surprise of the tasting and also WOTN – even more so if you could see what the cork looked like! Impressive precision showing delicate fruit, forest floor and menthol. Round, soft and harmonious palate. This put both 1980 Mouton and Lafite to shame in comparison.

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Wine Definition

• Vintage 1980
• Type Red
• Producer Château Haut-Brion
• Varietal Red Bordeaux Blend
• Designation n/a
• Vineyard n/a
• Country France
• Region Bordeaux
• SubRegion Graves
• Appellation Pessac-Léognan

Community Holdings

• Pending Delivery 14 (7%)
• In Cellars 87 (46%)
• Consumed 88 (47%)

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